It's my space, but you're welcome to stay.

Yup, she’s off Christmas shopping today and getting a massage and getting ready for the new gig, which starts Monday.

Me? I’m here, plugging away — at least on the blog.

The office is empty, but hopefully not for long. I’m actually conducting my first interview today. Then have five more scheduled for next week, as well as a pile of at least 15 people I still have to decide if I want to talk to or not.

At some point, I’ll give you a glimpse into some of the people that have applied for this job — which is titled Publicist.

My two favorites so far are an archaeologist and a phlebotomist. I kid you not.

And, perhaps my most favorite thing in the world is finding typos on resumes and cover letters. And, people, how do you not submit a cover letter? How is that even possible?

It’s almost impossible to say, but there is one benefit to Molly leaving — no more space heater in the office! It’s just a male/female temperature thing. And today is nice and cool. So, hey, I got that going for me.

Ok, so the Patriots just won — barely. A win is a win though. Problem is, I’m wired. Can’t go to sleep when I’m wired. So, faithful readers, you reap the rewards.

It was a great few days — relaxing and somewhat productive on a couple of fronts. That’s always good.

I know, I know, I’m writing more about Aidan than Erin. But, here’s the thing. He can talk. She can’t. So, a lot of it is because of that. But, in order to keep it fair, there will be an Erin post tomorrow (Tuesday) since she has a doctor’s appointment today (Monday). I’ll fill you in on the goings on there.

So all Aidan wants to do is put up Christmas decorations. I’m stubborn, which means we won’t get our tree until the 8th or 9th. I always like it in that two-week out range. So, since we weren’t going to get a tree or decorate a tree, Renee decided to pull out a couple of things to satisfy him — one of them being his Fisher Price manger set.

He calls the manger “the big house” which is funny enough. But then I was helping him put it together and two things came up that he doesn’t realize are funny — but I was getting a joke out of it. Or, heck, maybe he realizes that what I said wasn’t funny — but rather just a simple play on words.

He put the baby and its parents in “the big house.” He then accidentally knocked it over and the three fell out.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” I said, apparently only cracking myself up.

Then, there’s a horse (well, it’s a donkey, but he calls it a horse) that has a cart that can be attached. He decides to put the attachment in front instead of behind.

“Aidan, you’re putting the cart before the horse. Are you sure you want to do that?” Again, I’m the only one laughing here.

But, the best thing of the weekend is actually something he said. It goes like this:

When we got to my in-laws for dinner, Aidan’s great grandmother gave him a $10 bill with instructions to buy a present for himself and for Erin.

I was planning to take him out shopping, but we were first working on the concept of ‘splitting’ the money and that Nana had given them each $5 to spend on a toy. Even though there was one bill, it was really for both of them.

Before I could go to my wallet and get two fives out in exchange for the ten to help him understand it better, he takes off for the kitchen.

“Aidan, what are you doing? Where are you going?” I asked.

“To get the scissors, Daddy.”

“What for, bud, we don’t need those.”

“Yes, we do. Some for Erin, some for me. So I cut.”

That’s the moment I went to my wallet and we learned how five plus five is 10.

But, when Anna calls you out, then the pressure is there to do something!

My Thanksgiving Day Resolution (What, you don’t make those?) is to do some serious blog catch up. Because I have things to comment on — like dumb resumes and other stuff I’m going through trying to find Molly’s replacement. Amazing what people do.

Or, the latest and greatest things from Aidan and Erin and parenting in general.

And, I still have to do the ABC blog for which I was tagged, oh, I don’t know, years ago.

God knows what else, but I’m sure I’ll think of it.

But, in the meantime, here’s another picture of Aidan. I’m sorry. I can’t help it. I do have a daughter — and I do need to post more shots of her, too. But, this picture is sort of a thank you to Hallie for the clothes! You see, Hallie has three boys, as you probably know, and, well, it was a hand-me-down fest here last week. The sweater Aidan is wearing is proof of Hallie’s generosity.

So this is to thank her and let her know it’s going to good use. And, well, it’s to brag about how great he looked this morning before pre-school. I can’t even believe I just wrote that sentence, but, oh well!

I love music. Always have. The iPod is loaded with everything from Matchbox Twenty to Backstreet Boys, from Poison to Michael Buble, from KISS to Whitney Houston. All kinds of music. It’s the only way to go. Something like 3,800 songs on the iPod.

I’m trying to play a little bit of everything for Aidan. Sure, we’ve got Disney stuff, Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Dora and Raffi, but I’m trying to play more ‘adult’ stuff for him, too. And so far it’s working.

Mostly, I’m starting him on songs that are more acoustic or vocal driven and not coming with stuff that’s too hard — at least not yet!

~ Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (probably the hardest song yet). And, everytime this plays, I get the question, “What’s the thrill, daddy?”

~ Bubbly by Colbie Calait (what can I say, he has good taste!)

~ Hey There, Delilah by the Plain White T’s is probably his new favorite

And today we introduced a couple songs by The Beatles into the mix. He wasn’t keen on Yellow Submarine, but he did like Yesterday and Let it Be. Although as Let it Be came on, I couldn’t help myself, so I started singing while driving.

One of the best things about this blog is having the chance to document the things Aidan (and someday Erin) says.

Take these classics from this weekend, which featured, among other things, time raking (and jumping into) leaves.

It was Saturday, during lunch. We were at the table, and Aidan has been loving the toy catalogs that seem to arrive daily. We were going to my Mom’s on Sunday, so Renee said, “Aidan, we can bring one of these to Mimi’s tomorrow, so you can show her what you want for Christmas.”

He paused as he thought about what Mom just said. Then, with a somewhat excited look and tone, he said, “It’s Christmas tomorrow?”

Loved it.

Number two came when we were actually at my Mom’s Sunday. She asked Renee how Aidan was feeling, since he’d been sick earlier in the week.

“Ear infection, bronchitis, runny nose,” said Renee to my Mom.

“Don’t forget the throw up, Mommy!” he chimed in, wanting his grandmother, and apparently anyone else, to know that he had thrown up a few times this week, too. It was classic.

….you take them both and there you have the facts of life. The facts of life!

Thanks to Becky for reminding me about that great show. Of course, she got it confused with One Day at a Time. But I’m OK with that. And you should be, too. Both were great shows.

I was never a Blair fan, though. My crush was on Jo — ah, Nancy McKeon.

For those that don’t know One Day at a Time, as Pessimistic Redhead said, Schneider was one of the great characters. He was the superintendent of an apartment building where the main characters lived. And, those main characters were a mom (Bonnie Franklin) and her two daughters (MacKenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli). Ah, pause while visions of Valerie dance in my head.

So there’s your 80s TV moment.

I’m a guest blogger for Clink today. Talk about a step up. If you’re visiting from there, thanks for stopping by. If you haven’t been there, check her blog out. Great stuff. And today, you’ll learn about how I got engaged. It’s a cool story.

Anna and I are playing Sick Kid Poker. I wasn’t able to go to the doctor yesterday with Renee and Aidan, so she called with the news. Anna and I have been sharing sick kid stories this week. She sits in the office next to mine, and I just said, “Ear infection and bronchitis.”

She replied, “I see your ear infection with bronchitis and raise you one ear infection and a sinus infection.” I guess you had to be there. But it was funny. What’s not funny are sick kids. Aidan is on the mend though. Even slept until 7 today.

Am getting a cold though. So that sucks.

I think that’s all I got for right now. Afterall, this is really second post of the day. 🙂